Elsa Lama von Buchwald
Bio: Elsa Lama von Buchwald is an Ecuadorian multidisciplinary artist based in New York City. Her work is conformed by depictions of power and the different relationships in which it presents itself. She earned a BA in Arts in Context at Eugene Lang College the New School for Liberal Arts in 2015 and a BFA in Fine Arts at Parsons the New School for Design the same year. Her work has been the subject of solo exhibitions in both New York City in 2016, and Ecuador in 2017, as well as multiple group shows in institutions like the IPCNY in New York City.
Thesis Exhibition
Artist Statement
Creamos nuestra propia corriente
en este armazón,
del que colgamos
navegamos, jugamos vivimos y marcamos
si somos lo suficientemente pesados pesados
tal vez lo rompamos.
Algún día, espero que lo rompamos.
Pero, y luego que?
Regados y sin forma?
Solo la historia impresa en nuestros cuerpos…
Al endurecer,
las cicatrices dictan nuestra dirección.
Nuestro pasado nos hace torcer y retorcer.
El agua deshace,
el fuego forma,
la suficiente fuerza para sobrevivir en las capas
que cuentan la historia de la tierra.
Lineas nos definen,
Lineas nos organizan,
Lineas nos dividen.
Es inútil entender,
la linea aún pegada a la mano que la dibujó.
Imposible de trazar,
Se la ve recorrer hacia atrás y al infinito.
Desaparece.
Borrosa hacia el final
fina, casi indistinguible.
Nadie cruza entre un lado y el otro
Todo pasa en la mitad.
We create our own flow
within this structure,
from which we hang
we navigate, we play, we chill, we mark
and If we are heavy enough
we might break it.
Someday, I hope we do.
But, then what?
Spilled and formless?
With only history printed in our bodies…
Just as we harden,
Scars dictate our direction.
Our past twists and turn us.
Water melts,
fire forms.
Strong enough to survive history,
We join the layers that tell the story of the earth.
Lines that define us,
Lines that organize us,
Lines that divide us.
It is useless to understand,
line still bounded to the hand that drew it.
Impossible to trace,
It keeps going back till infinity.
It disappears.
It blurs at the end,
thin, almost indistinguishable,
No one ever crosses from one side to the other;
Everything happens in the in-between
L to R: Untitled modular structure (Variable dimensions, Porcelain, wood, 2017); Study of the Euphoric Gesture #4 (13.3 x 14”, Sugarlift, screenprint, chinecolle etching, 2017); The Pope’s Message, Como Camino Jesús (Still), (2:31 min, Claymation animation, 2017)